Blog

Hi again! Long time no see… I’ve been gone for the last couple of months and I thought it was finally time to explain why. Let’s take this back to winter last year. I was in Kalmar trying to finishing up my Bachelor’s thesis, which was extremely exhausting since I was working a lot and trying to run this blog at the same time. But I had in mind that I could fight trough it.

In early December I got a call from my mother that I had to come home. My aunt had been ill with cancer for a few years and it looked like she would not make it. I drove three hours home and visited her in hospital. Sadly I had to leave a few days later to go back to Kalmar for school and work. On December 23 I got a call finding out that she had passed away. My world fell apart. My aunt had no children of her own so me and my brother has spent a lot of time with her as kids. All of a sudden she left us and I didn’t know what to do. I stopped writing on my Bachelor’s thesis, didn’t go to work and just slept trough my days. One of the hardest part about death is all the things surrounding it; emptying her apartment, going trough all her stuff, funeral planning etc. I just left everything in my daily life to focus on this and to grief.

Time went on and I thought I was fine. I picked up my life and moved from Kalmar back home to my hometown. I got transferred at work to a location closer to home and decided to finish my studies from a distance. Since moving I’ve not really felt like myself. I’ve been working my ass off at work and procrastinating my studying. Somewhere along the road I’ve lost myself for the last six months. I don’t feel like traveling, hanging out with my friends, cooking, cleaning or anything that was easy and routine for me before. The last few months I’ve spent at home and in my apartment. I go to work in the morning and come home late at night and go right to bed. I sleep a lot but I’m still always tired. So in the midst of all this I just kind of forgot about Stroke of Adventure. I love this blog and the community on it’s social media channels but I just didn’t have the energy to manage it. I feel like it’s getting better though. The last few months I haven’t responded to emails, logged in to my instagram account once or logged in to my blog. But the last few weeks I’ve been creeping on you all on Instagram again haha! I don’t know what to post or when I will post again, I need to feel better first. But I wanted to let you know what has been going on and tell you that I’ll be back as soon as possible since I miss communicating with you all!

I love traveling and that’s obviously not a secret. But I also want my children and grandchildren to be able to travel the world like me. So I’ve become more interested in sustainable traveling. In 2018 there was a new word introduced in the Swedish language called “Klimatångest” and can directly be translated to climate anxiety. It was also documented that every third woman, between the age of 16-29, in Sweden is suffering from this anxiety. Including myself. I spend a lot of time thinking about our climate and the fact that it is changing. But at the same time I want to explore the world. Do you see the problem here? This is why I’m trying to aim towards more sustainable traveling!

Sustainable traveling? Is that possible?

Yes, of course! It’s 2019! Sustainability is becoming more important and I now see influencers daily talking about it on their social media channels. Which I didn’t a year ago, so that’s a huge improvement according to me. We need to talk more about traveling and the impact is has on our climate.

Did you know?

Tourism is responsible for nearly one tenth of the world’s carbon emissions (Source).

Since the 1950s, around 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced worldwide. And only 9% has been recycled (Source).

Inhaling air pollution takes away at least 1-2 years of a typical human life (Source).

More than 5 trillion pieces of plastic are already floating in our oceans (Source).

Chocking right? These are just parts of the reason myself and many others suffer from climate anxiety. The travel industry is a big industry and won’t change over a night. But there are several thing we can do to help slowly change it. Doesn’t this make you want to embrace more sustainable traveling?

So how can I travel more sustainable?

I thought you would never ask! There are plenty of things that you can to that makes you a more sustainable traveller. Here are 10 tips that makes you a more sustainable traveller (and gives you a more sustainable lifestyle).

1. Say goodbye to plastic

Seriously, you don’t need it. Take a look around you, how many plastic things can you see right now? 5? 10? 20? That’s too much. Easy ways to do this is include to bring your own grocery bag to the store, switch out your plastic toothbrush to a wooden one and say no to straws! These tips are so easy there’s no reason not to do them.

2. Use reef safe sunscreen

Sunscreen has been proven to kill coral reefs. In 2015, it was estimated that around 14,000 tons of sunscreen are ending up in the world’s coral reefs. You don’t want to kill coral reef do you? Let Nemo live! Next time you’re traveling to the sun, make sure your sunscreen is safe to use.

3. Cut back on flying

This is a hard one, I admit. I’m a travel blogger, am I really the right person to bring this up? But if we want our grandchildren to be able to travel as well we need to reduce our carbon footprint. I’ve challenged myself to not fly domestic anymore and take the train whenever it is possible. My thought is that by taking the train instead of flying the journey become an adventure in itself.

4. Reduce your waste

Have you ever tried the zero waste method? It’s hard! But if you can implement some of it on your travels you instantly become more environmentally friendly. Easy tips include to eat everything on your plate (if it’s a buffé take a little food each time) and don’t buy things with packaging (ex. fruit!). But most importantly if you end up with waste: recycle it! And if you find others waste along your travels, make it a habit to recycle that too.

5. Shower responsibly

Most of us like to take a shower after being on the go all day, especially in warmer more humid climates. I get it. But in places like South Africa the extended amount of water usage led to them almost running completely dry. That’s not what we are aiming for. Take short showers and reuse your towel!

6. Support the locals

A lot of local people at the popular tourist destinations are dependent on tourists to make a living. By eating at a local restaurant and staying at a smaller hotel (example a boutique hotel or family owned hotel) are both great and easy tips for supporting the locals. It’s also so nice to meet the locals instead of staying at a big resort and never leaving the grounds. Sustainable traveling is not only about the environment!

7. Go paperless

Todays technology makes it totally doable to go paperless! No need to print your travel documents anymore. Boarding passes, hotel documents and other documents are most of the time available as PDF-files or other online files. Save the trees!

8. Compensate for your travels beforehand

One thing that is especially popular when it comes to sustainable traveling is carbon offsetting! Most airlines, but also some bus companies, now offers the possibility of paying an extra, small fee to compensate for the carbon emission of your travels. This is so easy and it’s not expensive at all. Other things you can do beforehand is leave your car at home more, eat more plant based and use less plastic in your day-to-day life!

9. Use public transport

I think this is a no brainer. Take the train or the bus to work instead of driving. But also, when you are abroad, use the local public transport instead of renting a car or taking a taxi. It’s not only usually cheaper but also an easy tip for sustainable traveling!

Taking the train from Gdansk, Poland to Sopot, Poland!

10. Travel longer and experience more!

I’m aware that this isn’t an option for everyone. We need to stop flying as much as we do. One way to do that is to stop going on weekends or “mini breaks” and instead travel for a longer period of time. Travel for 2-4 weeks or more if you can! This way you get more out of your vacation and you make the flight “worth it”. And during this time, if you live like you do at home or even more sustainable, you won’t make a bigger impact on the environment than usual!

Those were all my tips for sustainable traveling! I hope you learned something and will implement some of these steps in your everyday life and on your travels. I feel like we are going to see more of this during this year since this subject is becoming more and more important. I already see big profiles on Instagram talking about plastic pollution and the environment and that is such a positive change! I hope this year we as travelers really can make a change on the travel industry.

My trip to Cologne had two goals. The first one was to get some time off work and be able to work on my bachelor’s thesis in a different environment. The second one was as simple as the fact that I wanted to visit a Christmas market. My first goal led to that I did infact spend quite a lot of time working on my computer at the hostel but that was fine by me, you got to work hard to play hard right?

I arrived in Cologne late Friday morning. I was so excited for my first proper solo trip in a while. Last time I traveled alone was back in 2015 when I went to Paris by myself, but that time I met up with a friend during my trip. This time I was all alone. But being alone doesn’t scare me. I love being alone hence I decided to travel alone!

This is where I spent a lot of time writing and working. In “The Livingroom” as the hostel staff called it. Perfect calm working area!

I stayed at Hostel Die Wohngemeinschaft (which I can’t even pronounce haha…). The hostel is located in the Belgian quarters of the city and in walking distance from the city centre. It took me about 15-20 mins to walk to the cathedral and even less to the main shopping street. I really liked this neighborhood because of the variety of restaurants and the fact that it wasn’t in the middle of the city.

Christmas Markets in Cologne

After working for a while in the hostel livingroom it was time to head out and explore Cologne! First mission: find a Christmas market. Finding a Christmas market in Cologne is not hard. Let me tell you that! The main ones I visited was the Cathedral Christmas Market, Heavenue and the Harbour Christmas Market. The one I liked the most was the one at the harbour! It was a bit smaller and not as crowded as the Cathedral Christmas Market.

There are Christmas markets everywhere in Cologne! This was another one I stumbled across whilst I was out exploring.

The Christmas market at the Cathedral is very beautiful but oh lord it is crowded. I stopped by for some hot chocolate and to buy a Christmas gift for my grandmother and it was nice! But then I left as fast as I came. The Harbour Christmas market was a lot nicer, less crowded and I felt that that the vendors there were unique and selling things that haven’t been done a hundred times already! So if you are looking for a quiet, cute market with great food and unique vendors you should aim for the harbour.

Traveling alone in Cologne and visit all the Christmas markets really got me in to the Christmas spirit. Traveling alone in Cologne is a great idea overall! I would say it’s the perfect sized city if you are new to solo traveling. It’s easy to get around and people are so nice! I can definitely recommend that you visit during Christmas time since there are a lot of things to do around that time of year.

I can’t wait to go back to Germany again but maybe when it’s a bit warmer haha! And explore more cities in this beautiful country. I read loads of posts about Germany over at Sofias blog and I’m so excited now! I’ve been to Germany quite a few times as a child but I’ve not done any serious exploring there! It’s time for that now I think.

As I’m writing this I’m alone at a hostel in Cologne, Germany. I know that a lot of people wouldn’t even consider solo traveling but I’ve gotten to the point where I want to travel more than my friends and family. I’m working my ass off to be honest and in my free time I want to travel. And I don’t have time to wait around for others haha. Therefor I decided to try solo traveling. In this post I’m going to share some tips and tricks with you so that you hopefully feel that you can do it too.

Eating out alone

This was my biggest concern before going. What would people think if I went to breakfast/lunch/dinner alone? Eating breakfast and lunch I’m completely fine with but I’m still struggling with dinner for some reason. What I have discovered so far is that people absolutely does not give a damn about if you’re alone or not. They’re only interested in their own food and company. What I found out works best if you believe that people are looking at you is to look back at them and smile. There are two possible scenarios that could follow: 1. You get a smile back or 2. You creep them out. So far the second one has never happened to me. What I’ve done with dinner so far it to get take out if I’m alone. Then I eat in in my room/dorm or in the public areas of the hostel/hotel.

Todays breakfast at Café Buur.

Hostels are a solo travelers best friend!

It can be fairly expensive to rent a room at a hotel by yourself. That’s why you should stay at a hostel when you’re solo traveling. Right now I’m staying in a 4 bed dorm room at a hostel here in Cologne and it’s great. Besides it being budget friendly you get to meet new people and all of a sudden you’re not alone anymore. Hostels with dorms usually offer some type of locker so that you can lock up your stuff if you’re leaving the room.

A piece of my dorm here in Cologne.

Blending in with the locals

When I do solo traveling I try to blend in with the locals as much as possible. Don’t have a huge map out at all times, don’t hang your camera around your neck and don’t look confused. The last one might be a tough one but I have some tips to help you. Try to look confident even if you’re not. If you don’t know where you are going; don’t stop to check the map. Instead continue to walk and look at a map on your phone. You can always turn around later or walk around a building if you’re going the wrong way. By looking at your phone most people will probably not even look at you or just think that you are reading a text.

I also try to use public transport; because that’s what the locals do. Look up your route beforehand and it shouldn’t be a problem. The only thing I’ve found tricky so far is to find my way out of the subway/train stations but I just follow the crowd of people since most of them are leaving the station anyway. I also try to wear muted clothes so I don’t stand out too much and pay attention to everything that is happening around me. Shopping at the local supermarket and learning to say “hello” in the local language also gets you a long way.

Be safe!

Besides trying to blend in with the locals there are some other things to consider for having a safe trip. Some tips include learning how to say “no”, don’t stay out too late and trust your gut! If something feels a bit off or if you don’t want to talk to someone; walk away!

Something I’ve found out by traveling in European countries where people don’t speak a lot of English is that most people get nervous around me and leave me alone when I tell them I don’t understand what they are saying. That has been both a blessing and a curse. It has helped me not to talk to random people that talk to me on the street but it has also been quite the problem when I try to order food etc haha. I also try to stay out of the big crowds, but that is also a personal preference since I’m not comfortable with big crowds.

Taking a step back from the huge crowd at a Christmas market here in Cologne / Wearing headphones also help with blending in with the locals, you don’t even have to listen to anything.

Traveling alone is fun!

Many blog posts and articles talk about the dangers about solo traveling and yes, as I have previously talked there are some things to keep in mind. But it’s not dangerous. It’s nerve wracking and exciting! By traveling alone you get to do exactly what you want on your trip, you meet loads of new people and you will create a bunch of new memories. Traveling alone is fun! You just have to try it out. And no, it might not be everyones cup of tea but at least you tried it! I will definitely do more solo traveling in the future even though it’s nice to have a friend with you.

I don’t have the space to host a Christmas tree in my apartment so whilst I was already heading south I decided to stop by my family’s house! They have the space and always put up a tree around this time of year.

This year we decided to have a real Christmas tree since we’ve used a plastic one for the last twenty years and I already love it! Yes, it was a bit painful to decorate and yes we (my family) will have vacuum around it almost every day but still! It’s so much more beautiful and unique than our plastic tree. Here it is in it’s full glory! And yes, we have a fake fireplace on our TV haha. Isn’t it beautiful?

Tomorrow morning I’m off to Cologne to visit their yearly Christmas market and to explore Germany some more. I’m very excited and I’ve also decided to vlog my trip as well so you can look forward to that! I’ve been to Germany quite a few times before but never to Cologne but it’s always fun to explore new cities.

It’s finally here! Gift giving season! Also known as the best season of the year; Christmas season! I love Christmas because I love giving gifts and I love being with my family. When I say that I love giving gifts I really mean it, it’s only the 4th of December but I’m almost completely done with all my Christmas gifts. But I know finding the right Christmas gift can be difficult so therefore I hereby present to you; Christmas gifts for travellers! A gift guide for all you travel freaks out there.

Here are some things that I’ve been checking out for this Christmas. Actually I couldn’t brace myself and splurged on the floral suitcase as a Christmas gift for myself! I’ve also been looking at the map posters for my new apartment (spoiler alert; more about this another time!). I also really recommend the Primus Thermos, I’ve got their to-go cup and I love it! But these are just some of my personal favorites from this year.

How is it going with your Christmas gifts so far this year? And do you have any other gift ideas for travel-minded people?

On our second day in Gothenburg we woke up to some better weather and we headed straight down to breakfast at our HOTEL. We didn’t really have a plan for the day at this time but we got that sorted over the breakfast buffet. I follow a pretty strict diet when I’m at home, but when I’m on vacation I eat what I want. So I splurged on some pancakes, scrambled eggs, some cereal and some white bread with salmon and cheese. And some juice! I rarely drink juice but I love it!

During breakfast we decided on three things we wanted to do during this day. Visit the palm house at the Garden Society, have a traditional Swedish Fika at Kafé Magasinet (since it was full when we tried to visit the day before) and eat dinner at Tacos & Tequila. You can already tell that this day involves a lot of food. A lot of delicious food. You are not ready.

The Garden Society of Gothenburg

After our delicious breakfast we got dressed and literally headed across the street. The Garden Society of Gothenburg was insanely close to our hotel. We located the giant palm house immediately and were both blown away. The Garden Society of Gothenburg is a park from 1842 and the palm house was built in 1878! In the palm house you can find plants like palms (of course), giant monsteras (like gigantic for real) and other tropical plants. If you’re in Gothenburg I definitely recommend that you visit this unique place.

Kafé Magasinet

The palm house was a big success for us. It had been at least 2 hours since we had breakfast at this point so we did the most Swedish thing we could. We went for some classic Swedish fika. I had stumbled upon Kafé Magasinet on Instagram and added it to my bucket list. This time when we arrived there was a few empty chairs. A traditional chocolate ball and carrot cake to share was our fika of choice this day.And as you can tell by Sandras face; they were delicious. Kafé Magasinet is a café indoors but it feels like being outdoors. That did not make any sense. Just like the palm house its a glass building. So it’s filled with natural light but you have a more comfortable temperature than being outdoors. After spending several hours just sitting down and catching up it was shopping time!

We didn’t really shop much. But I did find some basic t-shirts, a blouse and a pair of earrings which were all on sale. If I’m a budget bitch that always shop in the sale-section? Yes, of course. We strolled around the streets of Gothenburg for a while and then headed back to our hotel for a necessary power nap.

Tacos & Tequila

Dinner time! We met up with a friend of ours and went to Tacos & Tequila. We had both tacos and tequila of course. I had some delicious fish tacos, Sandra had an enchilada and our friend had lamb tacos and we shared a nacho-bowl for starters. Tacos & Tequila has an awesome atmosphere and the food is absolutely amazing. I didn’t know tacos could be this good. The next time I go to Gothenburg I will make sure to eat here once again. This was definitely a favorite! Just as Kafé Magasinet I stumbled up on this place on Instagram and we were not disappointed. After having tasty tacos and some kind of drink with tequila we decided to leave and move on to a local pub. We had a fantastic evening!

I jumped on the train to Copenhagen on Tuesday right before lunch. I arrived in Copenhagen at lunch time and right away met up with BELINDA, a fellow influencer but also childhood friend. We have basically known each other since I was born! It’s insane! We went for lunch at Tivoli Food Hall and we both ate at Glo. We had some really good salads there.

After lunch we defied the rain that was pouring down and walked around looking in cute shops and taking photos of every single building in Copenhagen. We took the metro to Belindas place and dried up for a few minutes before heading out again and this time our target was ice cream! Yes, ice cream in the pouring rain. And not only ice cream; VEGAN ice cream at Nice Copenhagen. I had “Brownilicious” which is vanilla ice cream, gluten free brownie chunks and peanut butter fudge. I had it as a sandwich with gluten free cookies! If that doesn’t make your mouth water I’m not sure you’re human haha.

After having a great time eating ice cream we decided to go to Glyptoteket (which I featured in my COPENHAGEN-GUIDE a while ago!) since it’s free on Tuesdays. Let’s just say we were not alone there… And we almost got kicked out as well. Belinda had a vitamin water-bottle with her and apparently that is strictly forbidden, but also because she accidentally put her hand on one of the statues whilst posing for a photo haha! So if you’re going; don’t bring drinks or touch anything!

After our visit to Glyptoteket it was time to jump on the train back home to Sweden again. Belinda had some stuff planned and I was going back home to my family. All together we had a wonderful day despite the rain and I got to experience Copenhagen once again. Copenhagen is such a lovely city but I don’t visit enough. I only visit when I use their airport which is the closest airport to me haha! I’m moving more south in Sweden pretty soon and hopefully I will get to explore Denmark even more then, I am in matter of fact half-danish and should be visiting more often.

Yesterday we visited Mikaeli Marknad (the Mikaeli Market) at Fredriksdal in Helsingborg. Every year in the end of September the market is hosted at the beautiful Fredriksdal. We didn’t go last year so it was nice to finally visit again. Fredriksdal is an open air museum and botanical garden in Helsingborg, Sweden. Visiting the Mikaeli Marknad is like traveling several years back in time.

As usual the market was filled with people and vendors. The vendors at Mikaeli Marknad sell locally produced produce such as spices, honey, flowers and root vegetables etc. This year we bought some spices, sea buckthorn-shots (non-alcoholic haha! It’s the kind you drink in the morning to keep you healthy.) and some food to eat whilst visiting.

Mikaeli Marknad is a rather big event and last year there was about 10,000 visitors! This year there must have been at least as many. Even though it was a bit cold we sucked it up and had a great time anyway.

We had a great time and I can’t wait until next years market. Do you have any markets like this in your hometown? Tell me about it in the comments! Tomorrow I’m going to Copenhagen to meet up with Belinda, a fellow blogger and childhood friend. Can’t wait to finally meet up with her again!

I’ve been thinking about selling my photographs as prints for a while but I was not sure on how to do it. I just shut down my own business and I’m not ready to start another one. But then last night I listened to the We Are Influencers-podcast with Rania Rönntoft and she talked about that she was selling her prints through Printler. So I had to check it out. I have now signed up and uploaded three prints so far. So far I’m very happy with Printler and how it works.

These are two of the three prints I’ve currently uploaded to Printler. If you want to see the last one; head over to my Printler-store by clicking here. I’m so excited to finally be able to share my art with you all. I hope you will like my prints and if you find one that you really like you can support me by buying it. I will upload more prints soon so stay tuned.